Holly and Mistletoe

It’s got to be brutal having a Christmas-week birthday, staring down the barrel of the dreaded combination gift every year. So who can blame Holly Madison (born Dec. 23) for wanting to push the festivities up a little bit? At least that way the clearly-an-afterthought stocking stuffers can’t be passed off as “birthday gifts.” (“Hudson Hawk? And for my birthday? You … shouldn’t have.”)

Madison got a jump on being 31 on Dec. 2 when she juggled Lavo, Peepshow, Tao—and new arm candy Jack Barakat, guitarist for Baltimore pop-punkers All Time Low.

Dinner at Lavo was in the private dining room with Holly’s World cast Laura Croft, Angel Porrino and Josh Strickland, plus fellow Girl Next Door Bridget Marquardt. Once dinner was over, though, Madison had to get over from the Palazzo to Planet Hollywood in time to perform in Peepshow.

Never let a little thing like a night at the office interrupt a good party, though. After the curtain dropped, Madison set up shop at Tao, where Playmate Jayde Nicole joined the soiree, a party where Madison and Barakat were spotted holding hands and going for the occasional kiss. Apparently dreams really do come true when you work hard, study your craft and pen three-minute Warped Tour-friendly bits of three-chord fluff.

Tao forked over a diamond-studded necklace to mark the occasion, and blue-cognac-punch purveyors Hpnotiq added $1,000 in Madison’s name to the Lied Animal Shelter before everyone retreated to their Venetian suite sometime after 2 a.m.

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